United We Stand

We'd heard there was a gift store in lower Manhattan, a few blocks from ground zero, with a memorial window display of the New York skyline. We went to take a look. But when we got near the location, one month after the attack, police blockades still barred the street.

So we took a walk through the surrounding neighborhood to look for gift retailers or others who had created memorial displays. There weren't any. In the stores that had reopened, it was business as usual, apart from a flag in each window, and maybe a small sign that read, "We will rebuild" or "I love New York." It was quickly obvious why. All those retailers had to do was to look outside to see the twisted girders, piles of rubble, rising smoke, emergency workers, and a patch of empty sky where the towers had once stood. A memorial display would have been redundant.

Small novelty shops and street vendors were doing a brisk business in flag merchandise — pins, ribbons, scarves, and T-shirts — and what seemed to be every photo ever taken of the World Trade Center. There had been some criticism of these businesses and of the souvenir-seeking sightseers they cater to. But to us, on the street that day, it didn't seem crass or uncaring. No one was laughing or joking around. It seemed that they were there, taking pictures and buying souvenirs, because they wanted to bear witness to the tragedy, to take a little piece of it and make it part of their lives. To gain some comfort from having paid homage. That didn't seem so bad to us. In fact, it seemed very much like what the gift industry is all about.

That was the scene in New York. We wondered how other retailers around the country were reacting, and this is what we learned.

Lea Semple, owner of Elysian Fields Books & Gifts, closed her spiritually-oriented shop in Sarasota, Florida, for several days after the disaster. She replaced the store's window display with one that "has nothing to do with selling anything. It is very simple and profound and expresses sorrow and hope. I wanted to do something to show our feelings and to touch people," Semple said. "A number of people have come to me crying, saying the display moved them so much."

Susan Whitaker, of the Black Sheep in Trumansburg, New York, explained the role she and her store played in their community. "I am like a glorified bartender: I listen and I give support. Sales are way down, but people came here just to release some thoughts and talk. My flag merchandise is sold out so I've pulled out my patriotic store display items. The community is very involved in lots of relief work and fundraising."

Andrew Morton of Andrew Morton Inc., in Knoxville, Tennessee, reported that all his employees are wearing flag pins, and that the shop's giftwrapper made huge bows of red, white, and blue ribbon to decorate the outside of the building. Morton plans to donate a percentage of sales from a single day to the American Red Cross. "Everyone's looking for something patriotic," he said, "but the surprise seller was the Joy to the World Ellis Island ornament, which shows the twin towers behind the Statue of Liberty."

For some retailers, the new fear of flying had a silver lining. Daniel Hill of Botanicals on the Park in St. Louis, said: "One woman told us 'we were supposed to be in Paris and we're not going, so we're going to shop instead.' "

Airport retailers faced even greater challenges, since the government closed their locations after the attacks.

Jim Stelten of CBR Inc., an airport retailer with several specialty stores, said: "We were faced with challenges of getting product. Shipping and delivery companies were prohibited from delivering." Once the airports reopened, the St. Paul–based chain visually refreshed its merchandise. "We've provided our sales associates with U.S. flag pins to wear," said Stelten. "The proceeds from the sale of the pins will go to a fund for the families of the New York firefighters."

Fellow airport retailer Dennis Doherty, director of store planning and development for the Delstar Group, said: "We have 11 stores in the San Francisco airport and nine in Phoenix. Not only did we lose three days of business, but the government closed the concourses to non-ticketed passengers. Before we were allowed to reopen, the police went through our stores and eliminated product that could be used as a weapon." Items removed included letter openers, pens, pencils, tweezers, nail clippers, and corkscrews. "To offset the impact we decided to get a patriotic T-shirt in our stores," said Doherty. "We sold over 8,000 T-shirts and 6,000 flag pins. We're doing whatever we can to keep sales up. It's an ongoing struggle."